


A Baltimore Baby

by masterroadtripper



Series: All The Years Of Our Lives [2]
Category: Hairspray (2007)
Genre: "Wade" is Corny, Coming Out, F/M, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Single Parents, Surprise pregnancy, homophobic violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 22:39:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 18,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13984797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masterroadtripper/pseuds/masterroadtripper
Summary: A prequel to Without Love.  The development of Link and Wade's relationship while raising a baby girl





	1. Bright Blue Eyes

**January 1964**

Link settled into the safe nook of Wade’s body on the couch. The other man, older than him by six years, had his sweatpants clad legs on either side of Link’s and Link was rested against Wade’s chest. It was nice to just sit together and not move. His hair wasn’t gelled into its usual ridiculous facade and Wade took advantage of the lack of product to play with his lengthening locks. Wade’s fingers felt nice as they played against his scalp and Link heard the older man humming along to the song playing on the radio.

“When do you have to be home Little Lark?” Wade asked. It was a Saturday night and as he left the house to go to “Tracy’s,” his father had called after him “not to stay out too late, but stay over if you need.”

“At the latest, tomorrow morning,” Link answered rubbing the palms of his hands up and down the two muscular thighs on either side of his. At twenty five, Wade was definitely in his prime, adding new lines of muscle to his body every time he came over.

“How did you manage that one?” Wade asked. The older man tipped his head over to Link’s shoulder. They very rarely got any nights alone together and they were few and far between. Link loved sleeping over at Wade’s and knew it would be where he would likely spend all his time once he graduated college at the end of the year.

“Didn’t, Dad offered,” Link replied. Just then, the phone in the kitchen began ringing and, in any other scenario, Link would go and get it. He knew how much the love of his life hated talking on phones. Even though Wade played the exuberant, over the top singing and dancing show host Corny Collins on television, the poor man was shy off the set of the show.

But Link wasn’t supposed to be at Wade’s apartment. Wade, like Link, was a ladies man, destined to find the cutest girl and make a family of equally cute children. But they both knew, in this life, they had found “their cute girl.” Even if it was each other.

So Wade removed himself from the couch and headed into the kitchen. Tuning out and listening to the radio, Link let himself get lost to the abyss that was his brain. Wade Collins, or better known as his stage persona of Corny Collins had hosted the show for five years, as of 1964 and Link had danced and sung on the very show for four of them. Four years of his life he was the “main man,” the “principal dancer,” and while Link enjoyed every second, there was some days he wished he never saw the audition call on the television. But it was how he met Wade. And he would give up another four years of his life over and over again to a show where he paraded around in fancy suits if it met keeping Wade by his side. He heard Wade hang up the phone in the kitchen and returned to the present.

“Becky had her baby,” Wade said walking back into the room. Becky, a former council member on the Corny Collins Show, quit the show back in May when she found out she was pregnant. Link was not surprised, to be brutally honest, when the announcement was made. Over the four years Link danced with her, Becky managed to build up a certain reputation among the crew.

When Wade didn’t sit, Link propped himself up on the couch and regarded Wade with a look that read “what is it?”

“Have you ever thought about the timing of this baby?” Wade asked.

“No, not really,” Link said, running a hand through his hair, smoothing it down and away from his eyes.

“You know I don't blame you for what happened with the guys,” Wade stated and Link felt his blood run cold. He pulled his hands in front of him and started counting forward from May on his fingers. Nine months. Link pulled his gaze up to Wade's and tried to hide the sickening feeling in his stomach.

“What did Becky say?” He asked.

“Apparently the baby girl looks just like her father and I quote, ‘has the brightest blue eyes you will ever see.’”


	2. A Silver Shirt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened in the change room nine months earlier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Caution for homophobic violence.

**Nine months earlier**

“Good job today guys,” Wade said, his voice said echoing through the male section of the dressing room. Link didn’t raise his eyes from where he was trying to undo the buttons at the wrist of his shirt. They had finished filming the episodes that would air in the coming week just minutes ago and as soon as he could, Link had headed back stage. He was tired. He barely slept last night in his own bed. Away from Wade. Apart from the man who lifted all his worries enough for him to sleep.

“Link, Ladies Choice was sounding really good today,” Wade said, clasping a hand on Link’s shoulder as he walked past. Link saw stars due to the speed in which he raised his head. And he would have been damned either way because looking up got him a view of the man’s now bare chest. Wade had undone his tie and the first several buttons of the metallic coloured dress shirt revealing the pale flesh underneath. Why something so simple still took his breath away after nearly three months of sleeping next to it, was beyond him.

Link opened his mouth to say something but likely looked like a beached fish instead, his mouth moving uselessly. “Thanks,” Link thought he had managed to squeak out.

Wade released the grasp on his shoulder and started to walk away. _Damn, his ass looks nice in those pants_ , Link thought.

He was distracted by the retreating figure of Wade to see a fist connect with his abdomen. Link coughed out and doubled over. He had been winded before in the past, but this felt different. Not only was all the air forced out of his lungs, but the rest of his side screamed in pain.

“Faggot,” Bix, one of his fellow grade twelve dancers hissed. Link wanted to cry out, scream to the retreating figure of Wade, but no noise came. When the door shut behind the older man, Link knew he was done for. He had heard of people like him on the news. They were beaten in the streets or in dark alleys. Beaten to death or disfigurement. Link tried to keep his feet under him, he tried to stay standing, but in crouching over, he exposed himself to the assault of a knee to the chest from Mikey, the only other twelfth grader.

“Why were you staring at Corny like that?” Mikey asked, aggressively grabbing Link’s collar and hauling him to his feet. He was glad he had taken off his tie - one less thing to potentially choke him with.

“I wasn’t,” Link croaked. The air flow to his lungs had not yet completely cut off, so he took as deep of a breath as possible.

“It sure looked like it, right boys?” Bix asked from his location at Mikey’s left shoulder. The rest of the guys, the ones not in grade twelve, stood back from the scene. Not involved, but not helping. They only gave Bix the dignity of a few muted grunts.

“I think the Corny Collins golden boy likes Corny’s ass,” Mikey added on from Bix, the two feeding off each other, getting more vicious. Link only needed to shout or scream and someone would come rushing. The walls dividing the change rooms were thin plywood and they could hear the girls taking more often than not. But if he made anymore than a squeak, the guys would beat the crap out of him before anyone would come to help.

“No I don’t,” Link protested, and as much as it hurt him to say it, he kept his voice level. Mikey used his grasp on Link’s throat to haul him into the middle of the change room. Link crashed to the floor and took multiple deep breaths, forcing air through his throat which was now screaming in pain. He turned over onto his rear end and braced his hands in front of him. Prepared to go down fighting, Link tensed his muscles and clenched his jaw.

“Prove it,” Mikey sneered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember in Without Love when Wade and Link talk to Julie about the change room? This is what happened.


	3. Birth Certificate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link meets his daughter

**January 1964**

Hospitals always smell weird. They stunk like antiseptics and just the general scent of death. The smell permeates your nose and just gets stuck. Link couldn’t remember the last time he was in a hospital, but even being there just made him want to leave. But in the hospital nursery, Link forgot everything when he saw the baby they had come to see.

The little girl already had a dark swath of hair on her head and on the end of the bed she lay was a blank piece of paper.  He noticed all the other babies had their names on the paper.  His daughter didn't even have a name yet.  Link felt as if his heart fell through his ribcage and hit the floor below his feet. Is this baby mine? The little girl, bundled in a pink blanket and hat, was sleeping soundly and looked so peaceful.

* * *

 

“You get full custody,” Becky said in a stern voice from the hospital bed she lay in.

“How do you even know the kid is mine?” Link said, desperately trying not to raise his voice. As much as he wanted to yell at her, he knew they both knew the truth. That baby girl was undeniably his.

“I already put your name on her birth certificate. She is legally yours and has your last name now too.  All you have to do is give her a first name,” Becky told him. How could she do this? She carried the child for nine months, how could she not want her own offspring?

“Fine,” Link said, crossing his arms over his midsection, “Do you even want to meet her?” Surely Becky would want to meet her daughter, watch her grow up.

“No. As soon as they release me from this hospital, I am leaving for New York. You’ll never see me again.”

“Okay,” Link said, “Where do I get the legal stuff?”

“The hospital staff have the paperwork. All you need to do is keep it safe.”

The papers sat, unfolded, in his messenger bag. Before he left, to go back to Wade, he stopped to look at the girl again. Yes, she was his. Now, the girl - his daughter, was awake. Her eyes were looking all around the room she was in and those eyes, he would recognize anywhere. He saw them every time he looked in a mirror. 

* * *

“I guess I’ll have to find another job,” Link grumbled that night. He sat across from Wade at the man’s kitchen table. The chicken he ate tasted like nothing and he forced another bite down his throat. His job at the local book store payed for school, but with a kid as of tomorrow, there would be so many other expenses.

“You have that mechanical course you took in high school, though, right?” Wade asked. Neither of them were eating. With a child, the reality of their situation slapped them in the face.

Link could no longer spend so much time with Wade, he would be spending it with his kid.

He had to find a daycare for his daughter - she couldn’t come to college with him.

He had to tell his Dad - he didn’t know yet. And how could he have that conversation with him? In order to cover-up his illegal relationship with his partner of three months (at the time), he had sex with a colleague and didn’t know she had been pregnant with his kid until she was born. Yeah. That would be a fun conversation.

He would likely have to find somewhere to live, his Dad would not want him at home.  Not now that he had a kid.  

“I could apply for a job at a garage, I suppose. At least until I graduate,” Link said, pushing his macaroni noodles around his plate. Then he could continue working on writing and hope to get published.

“Link, you’ll make it work. And if you need, you guys can move in with me,” Wade said and Link thought he’d never hear the day. For over a year, he had been waiting for the moment. Even as inopportune the situation was, Wade was telling him that they would get through it together.

“I wish we could both be her fathers. Like instead of a mom and a dad, she could have two dads,” Link said, a smile brightening his face for the first time that day.

“Me too Link. But for now, just having you guys here is as much as I could ask,” Wade said, leaning around the tiny table to steal a kiss from Link.


	4. Second to no one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link picks up his daughter

**January 1964**

Link didn’t sleep that night. Even curled into Wade’s chest, both the mans long arms draped over him had no soothing ability tonight. All he could think of was the fact that he would be moving out of his parents house tomorrow. Hell, his daughter was coming home tomorrow.

And Wade had offered them a place to stay. Which was amazing and yet something Link never thought would happen. He figured they would always be together in some way, but considering how risky even their “sleepovers” were, he never thought it would be an option.

Link looked over at the sleeping form of Wade and traced the lines of the other man’s face. He was still in amazing shape from dancing on the show and Wade never was able to hide it that well. Even his suits that he wore on the stage showed off muscles rippling and moving as he danced. Link was surprised it took them as long as it did to stop pining after each other like silly love birds and actually do something about it.

Link rose from the bed at midnight after giving up on sleeping. He moved silently into the kitchen, a skill he had acquired back when his mom was sick. Cancer. He figured he would get it in the future too. So Link focused on the now and tried not to dwell on his likely fate.

Writing a quick note to Wade, Link headed out the door of the apartment with his messenger bag and the legal papers pertaining to his daughter.

* * *

 The hospital was quiet, being only one thirty in the morning. The nurse at the check-in desk looked half awake and seemed happy to see another human. Heading up to the maternity ward, Link shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his jacket.

The words his mom once spoke to him echoed in his head. She was sick at the time. It was in this very hospital and Link had sat next to her bed one night after school. It was long before he danced on the Corny Collins Show, a long time before he met Wade.

“Making love is called that for a reason. You do it with someone you love,” she had said.

“Mom!” Link had groaned pretending to cover his ears. Weakly, his mom had pulled his hands down.

“When you’re married, you do it. You have to be ready to take that love and turn it into a baby.”

The memory stopped as abruptly as the elevator and Link looked at the roof. How upset would his mom be if she could see him now? But the baby was his. And maybe, one day, Julie could be both his and Wade’s.

* * *

 

“Hi, I’m here to pick up my daughter. I believe she is being released today,” Link said to a nurse in flowered scrubs.

“Alright, I’ll need the papers and your daughter’s name,” the nurse said almost apologetically. Link had no idea why she would sound that way.  He had thought about his daughters name a lot last night.  It was one of the many things that kept him up.  Julie, he has settled on.  Not only a name he liked, but a name of his ballet teacher that got him to audition for the Corny Collins Show in the first place.

“Julie Larkin,” Link said, handing the papers over to the lady.

He hadn’t ever held a baby before. Yes, Link had seen babies before, but had never felt the need to hold one. When the nurse passed him Julie, all bundled in a pink blanket, Link felt his heart melt in his chest. He didn’t know anything could be so small. Julie was so delicate and he was almost scared he would hurt her by holding on too tightly. Through the blanket, he felt the tiny heartbeat, the proof his daughter was living and breathing right in front of him. In that moment, when she opened her eyes and regarded him with an equally blue gaze, he knew he could never love another human being more than he would love this girl. Even Wade would have to come second to Julie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The conversation the mother had with Link was similar to this scene in "17 Again."  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQkbq-OC7PU&t=126s
> 
> No plagiarism intended. I've just never had experience with a baby in this way. I mean I've held babies and I've taught babies in "parent and tot" swimming lessons at work, but never a super emotional connection with one.


	5. Love you either way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link comes out to his dad

**January 1964**

“Dad!” Link called as he opened the front door to the town house he had lived in since he had been a baby. Julie was temporarily at Wade’s apartment with said man. Link figured that coming home with a baby that looked just like him would not be a great intro to this conversation.

“In the kitchen,” his father replied and Link started moving in that direction. His father was sitting at the kitchen table, bent over the newspaper with a cup of coffee. Link smiled in spite of himself. Not everyone had been awake since four in the morning.

“I need to tell you something,” Link said, pulling out his chair, the one directly across the table from his father. His father, hair completely grey now, but with eyes as blue as his and Julie’s, looked up from his newspaper with a smile. A smile that faded as soon as he saw the serious look on his son’s face.

“What is it Link? You’re not in trouble are you?” His father asked.

“No, not in trouble,” Link said, trying to swallow the lump in his throat before continuing. After now, there was no turning back. After he said it, it couldn’t be taken back.

“You haven’t been going to Tracy’s these past months have you?” His father interrupted when it took him too long to respond.

“I--,” Link said, words failing to fall from his mouth.

“It’s not a girl, is it?” His father stated, more than asked. Not waiting for Link to respond he continued, “You know, on her deathbed, your mother told me she knew you were different. Said you never looked at girls the same way you looked at the boys.”

Link felt like he was halfway between throwing up and crying. Or maybe both. Both would be good right about now.

“Oh my god dad,” Link said, frantically wiping his eyes to prevent himself from crying. He was preparing himself for the worst. What was his best excuse?

“She told me to love you either way,” his father said, “and I know I have said some pretty awful things before. And I know I can’t say I support you, but I don’t hate you.” After that, the rest of the story just ended up tumbling out.

Link still ended up moving out that night. But when he got home to Wade sleeping on the couch with Julie tucked into the nook of his arm, he knew he had done right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, his father is accepting of Link in his own way. I have no idea how this conversation would go, so I kind of just made up the most ideal scenario given the fact that it is 1964 and pre-Stone Wall Riots.


	6. One Month

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie turns one month old

**February 1964**

They celebrated Julie’s one month birthday completely sleep deprived.

Link had taken Wade up on his offer to move in with him, after his father had rather harshly told him that he was no longer welcome. Julie, on the other hand, seemed less than enthused to be among the living and expressed her displeasure all night. By screaming and crying. And what goes into a baby comes right back out, even if it was just baby formula and milk. Link did not really have an opinion towards changing Julie’s diaper. Wade, on the other hand conveniently made himself scarce whenever Link wandered off with his daughter and the filled diaper.

At the kitchen table with a tiny cupcake with a candle in it, Wade and Link ate Thai food takeout from the place down the street from Wade’s apartment. Julie was cradled in her father’s arms as he took alternating turns feeding himself and then her.

All the extra money he was now pulling in from his new job at the mechanics shop was solely going towards feeding and clothing Julie. The diapers, clothing and formula milk ate up the entirety of the second paycheque. Now with two jobs and college to attend, Link was exhausted. Sometimes he slept through Julie screaming in the night, only to be notified the next morning that he had, in fact, slept through it.

* * *

 

“Wade?” Link whispered that night as they lie in the queen sized bed. Link was snuggled into the spoon of Wade’s body and was effectively trapped by the larger man’s arms.

“What is it Little Lark?” Wade asked. He sounded sleepy, but Link didn’t think he had woken his bed-partner.

“Won’t someone get suspicious, you know, of this?” As unfortunate as it may be, there was still a high likelihood of them getting caught. Link didn’t want to move out of Wade’s apartment, but on the same hand, Julie would get trapped in the foster system if he ended up in jail. Wade had told him plenty about his days in the foster system before eventually landing at a group home when he was ten. It was not something they spoke of lightly and usually only after Wade had had a few drinks to loosen him up.

“Not yet Link,” Wade said and he could feel him shifting. Wade rose up on an elbow and leaned over Link’s naked torso with his equally bare one. Link turned his head to look into Wade’s grey eyes. Even in the dim light, he could see Wade’s face, the carefully sculpted muscles and bones there, and saw the underlying man. It was clear, in this moment, Wade feared the law just as much as Link did. They had never spoken of this before, them being “together” and just how risky it all was.

“I guess I’ll have to find an apartment, or something,” Link whispered into the dark of the bedroom, “you know, so if someone asks, it's not just like I only live here.”

“I suppose, but that is up to you, when you are ready,” Wade said planting a kiss on Links shoulder. “Try to get some sleep, tomorrow comes early.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have mentioned this before, but I feel that this would be a good chapter to put this after...
> 
> Maryland decriminalized homosexuality in 1999, thirty five years after this chapter takes place. Until then, anyone suspected of engaging in homosexual acts could be jailed.
> 
> I don't know about anyone else, but I thank my lucky stars I live in the 21st century...if only for this reason.


	7. Grumpy Baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie is 7 months old

**July 1964**

Link scowled as he watched his daughter fuss around in her high chair. The little girl, who looked more and more similar to him everyday, was now seven months old. Unfortunately, without the ability to speak Julie was therefore unable to express her displeasure of something in anyway other than screaming. And she did that way too often. Julie looked on the verge of a tantrum as she batted her bottle of formula baby milk around on the tray connected to the high chair.

“Hey babe,” Wade said as he stepped through the door of the apartment. He was carrying his Corny Collins get up, the metallic suit jacket draped over his arm. The stage makeup still caked his cheeks and his lips were stained with some kind of rouge.

Moving from his position next to Julie, he pressed a kiss to the other man’s reddened lips as a greeting.

“How is she today?” Wade asked as he moved through the apartment to put his jacket down.

“Not any better, still grumpy,” Link replied, returning to his daughter to try to convince her to calm down.

“I spoke to Maybelle,” Wade said, shouting to Link from their bedroom, “she said Julie is old enough to start eating more than baby food and formula. Solid food, I mean.”

Maybelle Stubbs, the choreographer of the Corny Collins Show and the mother of three, was one of the only people who knew of the true nature of their relationship. So she led a helping hand to Wade and Link whenever she could.

“So what now? Like what do we feed her now?” Link asked. As if Wade would know any better.

“I don’t know,” the man replied, returning to the kitchen. He had changed into sweatpants and an old, threadbare tee shirt.

“You know, I’ll pay Maybelle a visit tomorrow,” Link suggested. He hadn’t returned to the set of the Corny Collins Show in over a year. As many good memories as he had at that big warehouse-turned-studio, there were so many bad ones as well. And, while Mickey and Bix, who beat him up over a year and a half ago, were no longer there, the current second and third year dancers would remember that day. But he needed advice from a seasoned pro.

* * *

 “I’ll come in in a few minutes,” Link told Wade. They had shared a ride to the studio that morning, but it would still be weird if they showed up at the same time. So Link took and extra long time getting Julie ready to go. Like putting her in the stroller and buckling her up.

In an ideal world, or alternate universe, Link would have walked into that studio, hand in hand with the man he loved, gave him a parting kiss and watched his suit clad rear walk away to the changerooms. He only got one part of that fantasy. A good old fashioned glimpse of his man’s rear.

“Link Larkin!” The beautifully rich voice of Maybelle rang out through the studio. A few heads turned in his direction and he was awarded some smiles.

“G’morning Maybelle,” Link said only seconds before he was almost smothered in a massive bear hug from a woman almost a foot taller than him.

“Oh, look at this, she is a copy of you,” Maybelle crooned, scooping Julie out her stroller and into her arms. Thankfully, Julie didn’t start screaming or crying. She folded Julie into her arms and unbelievably soft robe like an expert before continuing.

“You look tired,” she said and he couldn’t really deny it. College and two jobs would be tiring without adding a seven month baby on top.

“Do you want a cup of hot cocoa?” Maybelle offered with a smile playing across his lips. It was something the lady used to do, offer him some hot cocoa in the privacy of her office when she sensed he needed to talk.

“Yes please,” he said, even though Maybelle had started leading him in the direction of her office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, according to my mom, I started eating solid food at about 7 months old, so I figured I would follow the timeline of my development and mirror it into the 1960s.


	8. Hot Cocoa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A shorter mini chapter set during the year Link was in grade 10 (and the first year in the CCS if we are imagining Link to be in grade 11 during the 2007 movie).

**April 1961**

“What’s on your mind today Link?” Maybelle asked. She had sat him down after noticing the fifteen year old had managed to step on his dance partner, Ambers’, toes for the third time that rehearsal.

“Too much,” Link grunted, accepting the warm milk and chocolate peace offering. He could hear the music of their latest dance number, Ladies Choice, playing through the wooden door.

“Girl troubles?” Maybelle said with a soft chuckle.

“Kind of,” Link replied, swiping a hand not holding a mug through his hair, smoothing his lengthening black locks away from his face. He would rather have the hypothetical girl talk with Maybelle than actually discuss why his brain was twelve million miles away.

“Well, is she on this cast?” Maybelle probed, sitting down opposite from him on a chair that looked rather comfy. Link had no idea how to answer. How far could he go before he had to lie and give a name, or give away something that would identify his crush. Which, of course, was not actually a girl, nor was someone whom he was on a level playing field with. Of course, of all the people he could have a crush on, it had to be Corny freaking Collins himself.

“Yeah, they’re on the show,” Link replied, taking a keen interest in his battered dress shoes. It was either that or maintain eye contact.

“Are they a good dancer?” If Link noticed that Maybelle had switched to gender neutral pronouns to match his, he didn’t notice.

“Amazing,” Link replied and thought of Corny practicing some of his solo moments off to the side of the stage while Maybelle taught them a new piece of choreography.

“So why not do something about this?” Maybelle asked, cocking her head slightly.

“Well, there’s an age difference…,” Link started, but trailed off before mentioning just how big the difference was. If he was dating one of the gals on the show, the maximum age difference would only be four years. Link was certain Corny was six or seven years his senior, at least.

“What does that matter? As soon as October rolls around, you are a consenting adult and thus able to maintain a relationship with someone with an age difference.”

“Yeah, but I have a feeling that the person has no idea that I even exist.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, consent rules were super weird 50+ years ago and it turns out that if you were 16, you had the ability to consent to any type of sexual activity. But, consent was not a huge deal back then (definietly not like now), so I am just trying to stress the fact in that any Wade/Link relationship was 100% consentual, even if Link would be technically underage based on our standards today


	9. Six Ways to Sunday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link, Wade and Julie share a domestic evening. Link worries about the future. Again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, after writing this story (and related ones) since December, I now just realized that during Link (and Wade's) mid-twenties, the Vietnam War was occuring. I am not an American, so we never disscuss this war in school. It completely slipped my mind. Its amazing what you think of in the shower. Really. I thought of this mistake in the shower.
> 
> Anyways...
> 
> I have found a way to include it without having to mess with the rest of Baltimore Baby or change Without Love.

**September 1964**

It was an average weekday evening. Link was set up at the dining room table, working away at some homework from college while the amazing smells of Wade cooking filtered through the apartment. Julie was set up on the floor, sitting on a blanket and surrounded by her toys. She babbled to herself while Link read through the most recent assignment.

But he wasn’t really paying too close attention to the paper in front of him as his mind kept wandering to his daughter. Yesterday had marked the one year anniversary of getting beaten up on the show, making today a year since Julie was conceived. He was happy to have Julie.

Becky, being as reckless and downright slutty as she was, Link knew that that kind of behavior fostered no environment to raise a child in. Even if she did move on from that lifestyle, Link didn’t think Becky had a motherly bone in her body. And if only for those reasons, Link was glad he had full custody of his daughter.

“Link, supper’s ready,” Wade called. It was loud enough that it could be heard in the apartment, but the sound did not travel outside the confines of their four walls.

“Coming,” Link replied putting the paper down. He stood and moved to Julie. Taking her tiny arms in his hands, he placed her on her feet as they slowly walked towards the kitchen. They did this as often as possible, to try to get her used to the idea of walking. Julie always seemed less than enthused when they did this, but Maybelle said walking with her was the way to do it.

“Let's get you into your chair lil darlin’,” Link muttered to himself, lifting Julie into her high chair. She squirmed a little, but calmed down when Wade put a bottle of milk and a tiny plate of mashed banana in front of her. They sat in silence, the only noises being the scraping of the knives and forks against the plates.

The radio was playing in the background and Link heard the hosts talking about the Vietnam War. Both him and Wade were “safe” from conscription for now. Wade fell outside the conscription age bracket. The military was looking for men born between 1944 and 1950. Wade was born in 1939. Link was within the age bracket, yet due to his recent leap into fatherhood, was safely close to the bottom of the list.

But even just hearing about it made Link feel sick. Because he knew, at any moment, he could be called to active duty. Called away from Julie, Wade, school, Baltimore and have to serve for a minimum of two years. He would miss so much of Julie’s life. Even if he could play his full hand, perhaps playing the “gay” card, would work. But no. That would just land him in jail. And that would still not get him any closer to staying with Wade and Julie.

He was screwed six ways to Sunday anyways.


	10. Lest We Forget

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its Remembrance Day 1964.

**November 1964**

Link and Wade stood a respectable distance away from each other. They were in public. They were friends. Julie, in her navy blue stroller, sat between them quietly as they listened to the Remembrance Day Ceremony occurring in the small valley in front of them. It was a cold, wintery day and the weather seemed to reflect the day quite well. Sad and dreary.

Since he could remember, Link and his dad always attended this ceremony. It was held at the Baltimore Military Museum and often enough, his father would know the majority of the soldiers at the sides of the stage. A military man from the day he was born, Major General Adam Larkin had served in World War Two and continued serving after it was over. So it was always a family thing. Until Link’s mother died, then it was just the two of them. But this kind of thing was something that you needed to do with those you loved, just so you could truly appreciate what people in the military gave up when they served.

Link took his eyes away from the front of the stage, momentarily glancing at Julie before looking to the man on the opposite side of his daughter’s stroller. It had never really been an issue, the six year difference in their ages. But in this moment, Link was glad that their difference in ages kept Wade out of the war in Vietnam. Because he would be the perfect soldier. Wade had family connections, no wife, no children and was in great physical condition. There would be nothing keeping him out of the conscription. And really, there was nothing keeping Link out of the military either. Other than Julie, he was the perfect soldier as well. But he was considered one of the Kennedy Father’s. A father watching over his kid was considered more valuable than a soldier. Which honestly made no sense to Link. But that’s okay. Because it gave Link the ability to raise his daughter.

* * *

 

They sat at a cafe a few blocks away from the military museum. It was a cafe that had just opened up that Wade had wanted to try, so they walked over after the ceremony. Both Wade and Link still wore black suits, just lacking their ties. Julie was looking super cute in a black frilly dress that Maybelle had given her. The dress was her youngest daughter, Inez’s.

Inez and Link were the main dancers in 1963, his last year on the show. And Link always felt like Inez knew something was up with him and Corny Collins. That last year, when they finally stopped pining after each other, Link found it hard to refrain from touching his secret boyfriend.

Link had his milkshake straw in his mouth, desperately trying to suck the blended strawberry drink through the continuously collapsing piece of plastic. Wade had enough sense to use a spoon in his chocolate shake and laughed at Link. On Link’s lap. he had placed his daughter, softly babbling away to herself while they ate. Under the booth table, Link had his knees between Wade’s and it was almost perfect.

“Does that taste good darling?” Link asked Julie, smoothing her straight black hair away from her face. The little girl cooed and shoved another french fry into her mouth.

“She’s just like her father,” Wade said before eating another spoonful of milkshake. “You’re just like your Daddy, aren’t you?”

“Da-he?” Julie cooed while looking up into Link’s eyes, the blues meeting.

“Was that what I think it was?” Link asked excitedly, “Were those her first words?”

“I think it was, she said Daddy.”

“That’s right Julie,” he praised his daughter, “Daddy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the cafe that I was picturing is like one of those drive in places that we see now days, just back when it was actually a thing.
> 
> During the Vietnam War, from 1963-1965, Kennedy decided to rank the men in the conscription. On the very bottom of the list were men with wives and children, then men with children, then men with wives. The men that were excused from conscription due to a child were known as Kennedy Fathers. This movement was reversed on August 26, 1965 at midnight. Foreshadowing? I think not!


	11. One Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is Julie's first birthday.

**January 1965**

“Could I meet my granddaughter?” Link’s father asked over the phone. Link had been rather surprised when the phone number associated to his childhood home had phoned their apartment. How his father had Wade’s phone phone number was beyond Link, but he got it and for the first time in 364 days, he heard his father’s voice. It was the night before Julie’s first birthday and his father wanted to meet her.

“Why haven’t you phoned sooner?” Link asked all the while trying not to fume at the man for ignoring him for the past year. Why didn’t he want to meet Julie sooner?

“I figured you had gotten used to having a child and living with your...friend. That’s why I waited,” his father explained. Okay. Link could take that excuse. Even if it was kind of lame.

“Alright,” Link muttered, nodding into the phone, even if his father couldn’t see him.

“Tomorrow is her first birthday, if you would like to join us?”

“That sounds good. Will your roommate be celebrating with us?” His father asked and Link felt his hackles go up.

“Yes, Wade will be joining us. If that is not okay, you are not welcome,” Link said. He decided that if he laid down the law early, his father had no reason to get mad.

“No, no, no Link. I would love to meet this ‘Wade’ man,” his father said quickly, “You know how I like meeting those special to you.”

“Okay Dad, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

* * *

 

“I understand why you wanted for him to meet his granddaughter,” Wade told Link that night as they lay in their bed, “But does he understand what it could mean for us if someone were to find out?”

“He wouldn’t report us,” Link ussured his boyfriend.

“I don’t doubt you. But didn’t you say he has a loose mouth after a few drinks?”

“Yeah. But he has been sober since I was in the ninth grade.”

“Do you think, in light of recent events, a relapse may have occurred?”

“Possibly, Wade. Okay?  I agree. But he wanted to meet Julie, and with so little family of our own, I think she deserves that at least. You of all people should understand that,” Link said, trying to control his voice and emotions.

They never yelled at each other. Sure things occasionally got tense, but they tried not to yell. And with all the impending dangers, they tried never to go to work angry with each other. When Wade stayed silent, as if he dared not breathe, Link realized the line he crossed. Link had promised never to bring Wade’s lack of parents, nor time in the foster system into an argument. In his anger at Wade about the judgement of his father, he had forgotten.

“Wade?” Link asked, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by those last comments.”

“I know you didn’t,” Wade said, rolling to his side from his back, to face Link. Wade’s curled brown hair flopped into his face and Link reached out to smooth it back. Back on the Corny Collins Show, there were so many times he had wished to do just that.

“I get where you are coming from Wade. I really do, I just don’t think my father would do something like that, I really don’t,” Link explained, rolling to face Wade.

“Okay. I believe you,” Wade said, leaning in to kiss Link. They met halfway and stayed in that position for a little before Link heard the cry of Julie from her crib. Link rose and walked towards the foot of their bed. There Julie lay, in a cute little white wooden crib. He lifted her into his arms and smelt why she was crying.

“I’m gonna go change her,” Link reported before moving towards the adjoining bathroom.

* * *

 

Link couldn’t believe it had been a year since he and Wade had been sitting on his couch, receiving the phone call that Becky had had her baby. It seemed unreal. Julie had grown - she had grown a lot - she could speak and most of all, she seemed to be progressing at a rate of a normal baby. She could walk a little, not for very long or with very much stability, and get to almost any location in the apartment she wanted. And she was his. Even though Becky was on her birth certificate, he was her sole legal guardian, and for the time being, so was Wade.


	12. Smells Like Urine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link gets an apartment

**March 1965**

The apartment was small and smelled faintly like urine. At least they wouldn’t be staying in it often. But, it was cheap and provided Link the credibility that he would need to deny a relationship with Wade. Now, all he needed was a crappy crib, bed and some other random things to go here and there. It had to look like he lived here.

* * *

“I miss you here all the time,” Wade said that evening at his apartment. They stood in the kitchen, Wade cooking pork chops on the stove while Link chopped up some lettuce for the salad.

“I’m still here most of the time anyways,” Link argued, briefly turning from where he was standing to look at the back of Wade’s head. The hair was still slicked down from the filming of the Corny Collins Show he was at earlier in the day. Link bet it would be super crispy. If he just reached his hand out he could touch it and find out…

“Daddy?” Julie asked, crashing into his ankle with her “sit and scoot.” The stupid wooden horse on wheels made so much noise while it scratched along the floor and hurt like the devil when crashed into you with the full, uncontrolled force of a toddler.

“Yes Julie?” Link asked, going down on one knee, but not before leaving the knife he held on the counter. He put both hands on the nose of the wood horse to prevent it from moving.

“Dink Daddy,” she said, making grabbing motions with her hands.

“Do you want something to drink?” Link asked in what Wade called his “cutesy voice.”

“Dink!” Julie exclaimed, bouncing up and down on the wooden saddle. Close enough. Link stood and grabbed her pink sippy cup from the cabinet near Wade’s head. After filling it with water, he passed it to Julie.

She was getting progressively better at speaking, slurring less of her words together and enunciating more clearly. But, as any toddler would, Julie came up with some interesting ways to say different things. She, for example, was “Ulie.” Her stuffed rabbit was “abbit.” The only word not mangled by Julie was “Wade.” Link supposed that it had the most natural sounds, no harsh noises, therefore he figured that made sense.

“Hey,” Wade said, capturing Link around the waist with an arm.

“Hey you,” Link replied, face in just correct alignment for Wade to plant a kiss on his nose. And he did. Link couldn’t help but smile.

“Are you going to that apartment tonight?” Wade asked, the grey of his eyes looking at him hopingly.

“I was planning on it, but I bet I could be convinced otherwise,” Link said teasingly. He wasn’t really planning on going back to that apartment tonight. It was loud and creaky at night. Plus, Link never really slept that well away from Wade.

* * *

“What are we going to tell Julie when she gets older?” Wade asked that night. The comforter was pulled up to their waists, but with the heat in the bedroom, neither needed any pyjama’s yet.

“About us?” Link asked, his voice cracking halfway through his question.

“Yah. I mean, when she goes to school. Kids don’t exactly have tight lips, you know,” Wade said, the hand not trapped under Link’s torso smoothing through his bed partner’s black hair. It felt nice. Link had got it cut about a week ago and for the first time since he had stopped dancing on the Corny Collins Show, he had a different hair style.

“I know. I guess we'll just have to drill the fact that we are friends into her head. And, you know, refrain from kissing in front of her.”

“But that would be so hard,” Wade fake complained and Link took advantage of his position in Wade’s arm’s to stop his words with a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the dialogue. Somethings are just easier to do with dialogue


	13. Lyndon B. Johnson

**August 26, 1965**

Link hadn’t been able to sleep. Wade was beside him, snoring softly. Julie was thankfully not screaming to the high heavens. In his sleepless frustration, Link got out of bed and wandered into the kitchen.

They had a television now. Wade had bought it from the studio when they announced they were getting newer technology. So Link turned it on. The old brick only got a few channels, but one was a news channel, so he scrolled to that one.

On the glass face, the President, Lyndon B. Johnson, was talking and according to the headlines at the bottom of the screen, he was talking about the war. Link felt his heart drop to the bottom of his stomach as he fumbled for the remote. Un-muting the television, the President’s voice softly spoke into the room.

“And due to the lack of able bodied men that are protected under the Kennedy Fathers Act, it has been reversed,” was all Link heard before he broke down into tears.

_I am the only person Julie has. We have no idea how much longer this war will go on for. Even if I don’t die overseas, she will have to go into the foster program. There is no way that the courts would let her stay with Wade. My own father would likely not even take her in. I’ve ruined my little girl’s childhood._

“Link? Are you hurt?” The soft, warm voice of Wade asked and finally pulled Link out of his misery. With tear stained cheeks and red rimmed eyes, he looked up at the other man.

“No,” Link hiccuped, allowing himself to be pulled into Wade’s arms.

“You’re freezing,” Wade said, warming Link’s naked torso with his tee-shirt covered one. Link let himself be coaxed back to bed. Once he was laying in Wade’s arms once again, the older man asked, “What was that about?”

“The President has reversed the Kennedy Father’s Act,” he whispered, trying to be quiet to not wake Julie. But suddenly Wade went rather quiet as well. Link mentally willed Wade to say something, anything. Though it sounded like he had even stopped breathing.

“Oh Link,” he said in a whisper, barely audible to Link over the loud sound of his breathing.

“What am I going to do now?” Link asked into the fabric of Wade’s shirt, the same fabric now clinging to the owner’s chest from dried tears.

“I can’t always pretend to know the answers,” Wade told him, smoothing Link’s floppy black hair away from his eyes and forcing him to look up. “But whatever happens, I assure you that Julie will be safe. She won’t end up in the foster system, I swear Link.” And Link believed him.


	14. Order to Report

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this on Google Docs and the formatting looked much better on that. I did my best.

**September 1965**

Link was in an unusually good mood that evening as he walked back to Wade’s apartment from the bus stop. He wrote a test that morning at college that he thought he had aced, the cafeteria served sliders at lunch and he had won a debate in the afternoon. So, yah, a better day than he had had since the Kennedy Father’s Act was repealed.

The sun was shining off the handle of the door as Link buzzed himself into the apartment block. He took the stairs up the the third floor, because the elevator was not to be trusted on a regular basis. However, the second he set foot into Wade’s apartment, he felt that something was off. But nothing was. Everything was where it belonged, Wade was sitting on the couch with Julie asleep in his lap and nothing was on fire.

“G’afternoon,” Link said quietly. He leaned over to give Wade a kiss on the temple. Then he saw the unopened envelope. It was sitting on the coffee table on top of all the other mail and it was addressed to him.

Though it was unusual for Link to get any mail, it was not unheard of. He had not yet changed his mailing address to that of the new apartment, though he intended to do so soon. But what did startle him was the obvious United States Army crest on the paper. The same crest that appeared on mail his father got.

“Is that--?” Link asked, just barely stopping himself. He couldn’t say the words. It couldn’t be his conscription notice. It just couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible. With shaking hands, Link reached out and took the envelope and opened it.

* * *

_Selective Service System_

_ORDER TO REPORT FOR INDUCTION_

_The President of the United States,_

_To,_

_Mr. Lincoln Larkin_

_You are hereby ordered for induction into the Armed Forces of the United States and to report to_

_Local Board NO. 8 Office_

_On_

_September 18 1965_

_At_

_07:00 Hours_

* * *

There was much more written on the page, but Link couldn’t see it. He dropped the paper on the coffee table and headed into Wade’s bedroom. Like any mature, almost twenty-year-old, Link hid his face in the comforter on the bed and cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The enlistment letter is actually based directly off a real letter from the Vietnam War.


	15. 4-F

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I suppose the chapter title quite spoils the foreshadowing, yeah?

**September 18th 1965**

It was Wade’s twenty sixth birthday when he reported to the conscription station. Wade had given him a kiss on his way out the door while Link promised he’d make it up to him that night. But now, sitting in a room with forty some odd other man in nothing other than his underwear and his notice on his lap, Link realized that the brave face he put on while heading out the door was just as much for Wade as it had been for himself.

“Take a deep breath in,” the doctor told him while simultaneously pressing a really cold metal stethoscope to Link’s bare chest. Link took a short, quick breath in as the cold metal made contact, then proceeded to breath as evenly as possible.

“Interesting,” the doctor muttered before taking Link’s notice from him and writing a quick note in chicken scratch.

“You may proceed that way.” Link walked through the door indicated and was greeted by a Red Cross nurse, who showed him to other office. Link was so nervous he was no longer scared, just numb.

* * *

“Good morning,” the next doctor said before taking Link’s piece of paper. When Link shivered the doctor threw him an apologetic gaze. “You can sit, if you’d like,” the doctor offered and Link hopped up on the examination table.

“Have you ever had difficulties breathing?”

“I don’t know. It happened more often when I was in school and dancing,” Link said, thinking back to some of those rather scary dance rehearsals for the show when he felt like he really couldn’t breathe. “Most times, I just sat down, put something cold on my chest and it went away.”

“Hmm,” the doctor said, scribbling something down on the piece of paper, “so, you only noticed this occurring during activity?”

“Mostly. Sometimes, though it happens for absolutely no reason, or when I’m kinda stressed.”

“Have you ever gone to the hospital because of these occurrences?”

“Once when I was little. But whatever it was disappeared by the time my mother got me there.”

“Have you ever heard of asthma, Mr. Larkin?” the doctor asked, finally.

“Maybe?” Link replied, the nerves from earlier fading and the adrenaline with them. He suddenly felt rather tired and worn out.

“Asthma is a condition caused by fluid in your lungs. In your case, when you exercise or get stressed, the fluid gets thicker, causing it to get harder for you to breathe. I would like to run a test to see if this is truly the case, if that is okay with you?”

At this point, Link couldn’t care less. He just wanted to get his orders and get out of here. The sooner he left, the sooner he could get home to Wade and Julie and spend time with them before leaving for training.

“I want you to do twenty jumping jacks, twenty push ups and twenty sit ups for me. If at anytime, you feel like your chest is constricting or it is becoming hard to breathe, I want you to tell me.” Link nodded and got to work.

Just because he was no longer on the Corny Collins Show, it didn’t mean that he hadn’t kept the epic physique he had achieved while on the show. He lifted weights every day and if he could, he would get out for a run.

Link wasn’t exactly telling the doctor the full truth. Every single bloody time on that show, he would find himself gasping for breath. It got so bad in the last year that Maybelle kept ice packs for his chest near the stage. But he didn’t want to seem weak, so he never told his parents, barely ever mentioned it to Wade and never made a deal out of it. It was just a fact of life.

Link felt his lungs constrict on the ninteenth push up. On instinct, he pushed through it. He ignored the raspiness and pain he felt until he remembered that the doctor had asked him to say when this happened. So he did.

The doctor peeled a strange looking tube with a button on top and passed it to Link. “This is an inhaler and contains a very low dose of albuterol, an anti inflammatory. I want you to inhale it and hold your breath for a period of time.” The doctor passed Link the plastic tube and Link did as the man said. The spray startled Link and tasted rank, but he held it in his lungs until the doctor told him to try to breathe. When he did, the tightness was still there, but it felt like he could get more air in. Soon, the symptoms he felt started disappearing and Link took a large gasp of air.

“How does that feel?”

“Better,” Link replied and truly meant it. He stared at the plastic tube in his hand with awe. How could something so tiny do so much?

“I’ll prescribe you a low dose like that. After the war ends, I would recommend you go to a doctor and get a proper exam,” the doctor said, writing notes on Link’s conscription paper before taking out a stamp and adding it to the box in the corner. Link took the paper when offered and looked at the stamp.

**4-F**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> James Marsden is actually born on September 18th :).
> 
> Also, this is the 1960's. They just discovered that asthma is a medical condition and not a psychological one. I realize that this is not exactly how asthma works, they still don't know much about it.
> 
> WAY too much of this scene is based off the recruiting scene from Captain America the First Avenger. And for those who are unfamiliar with the Army, 4-F is the stamp for rejection.


	16. Happy Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link turns 20.
> 
> (Zac Efron's birthday is actually October 18th)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this isn't longer, I thought a shorter chapter would be a good change of pace

Link knew exactly how long Wade had been softly singing before his brain had woken him up. It wasn’t uncommon for Wade to sing around the apartment, but never this song. Link had always sung this one.

_Shake those hips in my direction_

Wade had managed to get through five lines of the first verse of Ladies Choice before waking him. That was impressive.

_Bring it back if he never did see, take me home and then unwrap me_

Link rolled onto his back, letting the blanket he had draped over his hips and rear end slip just a little lower. He didn’t bother fixing it as Wade climbed onto the bed.

_Shop around with every dollar, I’ve got to be the man’s choice_

He almost laughed at Wade’s attempt at fixing the pronouns in the song. Wade stifled the aborted laugh by sealing their mouths together. Link made a very un-manly squeak as Wade straddled his hips and whispered, “Happy 20th birthday.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the full version of Ladies Choice from the 2007 movie  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm2iTP1NaB4&index=5&t=0s&list=PLFxtUQRT3x4I2pt0uh81petrEEfGcupBP


	17. One Day, You'll Marry My Son

**January 1966**

“Happy birthday to you,” Wade, Link and Link’s father sang. They were gathered around Wade’s kitchen table, a tiny, pink birthday cake set on top with two candles burning bright.

“Okay Julie, time to blow out the candles,” Link said and watched as Wade readied the camera to take a picture. It was the first time Link had ever known someone with a camera and he was glad that Wade was taking pictures of their perfect little family.

Link put Julie to bed that night, leaving Wade and his father alone in the kitchen. When he returned, he heard the two men speaking softly in the kitchen. “I’m glad Link has you,” he heard his father say. Which was not something he had would have ever bet in a million years that he would hear his father say.

“He was always so quiet,” his father continued, “never really told us much about his time on your show. We only saw him come out of the weird shell he lived in on the television. And now, I get to see him out of that shell with you. He really loves you Wade. I hope you know that.”

“I do, sir,” Link heard Wade reply. He felt his heart swell at the simple admission. They had said “I love you” to each other many times but hearing Wade tell his father that he loved him, just made it seem that much more real.

“One day, Wade, you will marry my son. And I hope I’m around to see it.”

“Me too.”

* * *

Link got a phone call from the Baltimore General Hospital a week later.

_This message is intended for Lincoln Larkin. It is intended to inform you that Adam Larkin has been admitted to permanent hospice for immediate heart failure. Visiting hours are between nine and four everyday._

He couldn’t believe it when he saw his father, laying in the bed. Unlike when his mother had died, there were machines connected to almost every limb of his father’s body. And they seemed to be keeping him alive.

“Dad?” Link asked into the silence of the room, his voice cracking. His father shifted minutely on the bed, just enough to alert to Link that he was, in fact, awake.

“Link,” his father said questioningly and Link rushed to the man’s bedside. He took his father’s hand in his, surprised at just how pale the skin was, how it didn’t feel attached to anything.

“I’m here dad, I’m here,” Link promised, squeezing his father’s hand just enough for the older man to understand that his only son was there for him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was dying anyways,” his father responded, eyes as blue as Link’s own focused on the roof. “I didn’t need you worrying over me too.”

“But dad, there's so much… so much I’ve missed,” Link said and felt the first tear of many slip down his cheek.

“I met… my granddaughter… and my… son in law,” the older man said and Link felt the last shreds of his heart ripping apart. He and Wade weren’t married. They likely would never get the chance. Link laid his head down on the bed next to his father’s unmoving body.

“Thank you dad. Thank you for everything. I’m sorry you’ll never get to see Wade and I get married,” he said, not even caring if a passing nurse heard. His father needed to hear it more.

“You… heard… that?” His father asked, voice becoming more laboured, each breath a struggle. He had seen it in his mother. He had watched her die. He couldn’t do it again. But he would. He would stay with his father until his last breath.

“I heard most of it dad, and I promise, I’ll marry him,” Link said, though in his heart, he doubted it would ever be an option.

“Thank… you… for… being… you,” his father said. Link felt the grip his father had had on his hand get limp as the man’s eyelids slid closed.

“No no no,” Link said, each time becoming closer to a whisper, “no dad, you can’t die.” Unlike when his mother died, machines started beeping their shrill warnings of a lack of a heart beat. As his father left this world to join his mother, Link collapsed, half on the hospital bed, half still in the chair beside it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for that. I was feeling pretty angsty and this is the product of that


	18. Grad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link graduates from college

**May 1967**

“Lil’ darlin’, are you ready to go?” Link called into the apartment. He heard the thundering footsteps of his daughter as she ran through their tiny dwelling. They had slept at their apartment that night, after leaving Wade’s just after supper. Link adjusted his suit one more time before going off to find Julie. Today, of all days, they couldn’t be late. Link was graduating today. Finally, after seventeen years of being in some sort of school based program, he would be done. He wrote all his exams, he handed in all his papers, and now, Link would have a degree in Literary Arts. It wasn’t much, but it would help him get a job other than the one at the library and at the mechanics shop.

But they still had to get there and Wade was picking them up in five minutes and as far as he knew, Julie could still be running around naked.

She wasn’t naked, but the way she was dressed wasn’t much better. Julie had her dress on, a cute red polka dot one, on, but backwards. How she managed that, Link was not too certain. She had her shoes on, but they were on the wrong feet.

“Julie,” Link said, barely containing his smile at his daughter’s clothing.

“Daddy, I dwessed,” Julie said, giving a little twirl to show off her dress.

“Its backwards darlin’. Let’s get that fixed,” he said before helping Julie get adjusted in her clothes.

* * *

Link had made it to the University with some time to spare, but not as much as he would have liked. He sent Wade with Julie to get seated before heading behind the curtains set up to form a stage on the massive gym floor.

All the court dividers had been removed and the three separate areas had been merged into one. Behind the curtain, Link looked around at the people who had been in the majority of his classes this year and years previous. He wondered how many others had children. He wondered how many of those pulled from the program to go overseas to Vietnam would never come back to finish their degree. How many have already had that decision made for them. How many were married? He had spent years with these people and yet he knew nothing about them.

* * *

“You did it,” Wade said, pulling Link into his arms. They were in public, still at the university, so Link refrained from kissing Wade, but leaned into the hug a little more. Wade passed Julie from his arms to Link’s and he cuddled his daughter.

“I wish my dad was here to see this,” Link muttered. His father had died over a year ago and yet Link still felt the loss like it was yesterday.

“He would have liked to be here,” Wade said. What hurt Link the most was that he had no idea that his father was sick. It all happened so suddenly and had he known, he would have made more of an effort to be around. But it hadn’t, and he didn’t.


	19. First Day Of School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie goes to Kindergarten

**September 1968**

“Daddy, I don’t wanna go,” Julie screached in the kitchen of Wade’s apartment. It was her first day of kindergarden and Julie was not pleased by this.

“Darlin’, you have to go and I have to go to work,” Link said, trying to bargan with her.

“Wha about Wade? I’ll say wit him,” Julie argued. Her lisp hadn’t gotten much better over the years and was still having troubles pronouncing “th” sounds.

“I have to go to work too Julie,” Wade said from his place by the sink, cleaning a pan.

“I don’t wanna!” she said and Link almost hit his breaking point. “It’s only for the morning, then I’ll pick you up at lunch and we will go and visit Wade. But you have to go to school.”

* * *

He watched Julie walk into the school building with her teacher, cheeks still red and wet from crying. The teacher seemed unconvinced that Julie had no connections to her mother, but that was not for Link to try to convince her otherwise. He had the legal forms.

Link looked at the other parents, still mingling around and felt the usual pang of sadness that was often associated with knowing Julie was growing up without her mother. But Julie’s life with Becky would have been choas. So, in his head, he knew Julie was better off with him, but it didn’t quell the guilt anymore.

* * *

Link didn’t exactly hate his new job, but he didn’t really like it either. He was an editor at the Baltimore Sun and spent his day reading the crap the other writers sent him and trying to make sense of it.

Easier said than done, especially when his brain couldn’t focus on anything other than thinking of Wade dancing on the Corny Collins Stage.

* * *

Walking into the warehouse that the Corny Collins Stage was in always put a sense of anticipation into his stomach. It used to be because he couldn’t wait to see Corny Collins and maybe get to dance or film with him. Then it morphed into anticipation of seeing Wade and possibly sneaking a moment alone in his office. Now, it was because he was nervous about watching Wade dance.

He loved it. He loved watching Wade dance and sing, his voice wrapping around his head and transporting him into another universe or dimension.

“You’ll never get to college but you’ll sure look cool. Don’t need a cap or a gown, they’re the nicest kids in town,” Wade sung. They were not filming yet, just practicing, and all the kids and Wade were still in sweatpants, loose skirts and tee-shirts.

Julie was perched in the crook of Link’s arm and started squirming almost the second she saw Wade. Link softly placed a finger on Julie’s lips to remind her to be quiet as they walked over to where Maybelle was standing.

Her eldest child, nicknamed Seaweed, stood next to her. Seaweed was sporting a gold band around his ring finger now. He had proposed to his long-time girl friend, Penny, last spring, but until the government lifted the ban on interracial marriage, they would still be fiancees.

“Hey Link,” Seaweed said quietly as they approached, “how you’s doing these days?”

“Graduated college, never been better, you?”

“Can’t complain man, can’t complain,” Seaweed replied before saying, “and is this Julie?” Link nodded. “She looks just like you.”

From the stage, Link heard Wade and the newest council members sing, “Nicest kids in, kids in town. WOO!” Before striking the outro pose.

“Link,” Wade called, walking towards them. Even on rehersal days, Wade gelled his hair back until it was crisp. Link wanted to reach out and touch it like he would do at home, but just barely refrained.

“Hey Wade,” Link said, shifting the squirming Julie into the older man’s arms before she wiggled her way to the floor.

“Guys, I was thinking. What if Link and I were to do Ladies Choice, you know, to show this crew how to actually dance?” Wade asked, settling Julie on his hip.

“If you two want, I don’t see why not,” Maybelle said, turning to Link as if she was looking for his imput.

“Sure, I’ve even got the proper outfit on,” Link joked, looking down at his suit which he had to wear to work.

* * *

“I forgot how much fun it was to prance around on that stage,” Link said, closing the apartment door behind Wade and Julie.

“Missed it, did you?” Wade asked and when Link gave a slight nod, he continued, “I thought so. S’why I asked if you wanted to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm basing this off some of my experiences in kindergarten with severe separation anxiety. I was that screaming kid on the first day of school almost every year


	20. Discussion

**March 1969**

“I want you to live here again,” Wade said that night as they sat in the exact same location they had five years ago when they learned of Julie’s birth. Link was nestled into the nook of Wade’s legs and body had made, leaning into the older man’s chest.

“I want to live here too. But you know why we can’t,” Link said, tipping his head up to look into Wade’s eyes. The man’s usually bright grey eyes were dulled.

“Maybe I want this apartment to be you and Julie’s,” Wade said, looking down at Link and meeting his gaze.

“But, we have our own place now. We come and visit you here,” Link said. He thought he knew what Wade was offering him, but there was no way to be absolutely sure. Was Wade offering to trade apartments? Let Julie grow up in this apartment and he would live in the other one. Or was he offering for he and Julie to move back in with him, so they could live together again. Pretend to be a family again.

“Julie can’t grow up in that apartment. She spends most of her time here anyways.”

“What are you saying Wade, I don’t understand,” Link said. Wade was amazing at doing that. Talking his way around a subject but never really getting to the point. It was probably what made him such a good show host.

“I want you to move into this apartment. We’ll trade and then Julie can grow up where she should, not that apartment you sleep in now.”

“Wade, I can’t ask you to do this.”

“I’m offering little lark. As much as anything, I want Julie to grow up somewhere good, in a decent neighbourhood.” It was then that Link realized that Julie was just as much Wade’s daughter as she was his. The man hadn’t much luck in the dating world and would likely never have a child of his own, but in someway, he now had a kid.

“I wish we could live together,” Link muttered, turning his face into Wade’s chest. Wade wrapped his arms around Link’s shoulders, pulling the smaller man closer.

“I want that too. Then maybe we could get married,” Wade said, nuzzling the side of Link’s neck, “Would you want to get married?”

“Of course Wade. That would be amazing.”


	21. Loose Tooth

**April 1969**

They were sitting in the kitchen eating supper. Well, Link and Wade were eating supper, Julie had almost two hands entirely in her mouth.

“Come on Julie, please eat your food,” Link told her, also observing the almost entirely untouched plate of food in front of his daughter.

“But my teeths hurt daddy,” Julie complained. However, she took her fingers out of her mouth and picked up her spoon instead.

“Why do your teeth hurt Julie?” Link asked, confused and yet understanding why her mouth hurt at the same time.

“I don’t know daddy,” Julie said, her legs starting to swing under her chair and simultaneously rocking the table.

“Julie, stop kicking,” Wade added into the conversation in which he had been mostly silent in. Link would have to ask him about it later tonight when Julie was in bed and Wade stayed over because “it got too late to walk home.”

“I’m gonna look at your teeth Julie, kay?” Link said standing and going around the table. Gingerly, he felt along the top row of her teeth. Not finding what he was looking for, Link pressed his finger along the bottom row until a tooth moved under his scrutiny. Loose tooth.

“I found it lil darlin’. Just a loose tooth,” Link reported.

“My tooths is loose?” Julie said, voice growing about ten decibels in volume.

“No, it’s not a bad thing,” Link said quickly, trying to reassure her before she really panicked. But he drew a blank on how to actually calm his daughter.

“Julie, its not a problem,” Wade said, “You know how you grew out of your yellow sweater and we gave it to Maybelle?”

“Yah,” Julie replied, her face looking thoughtful as if she was seriously considering what Wade had said.

“That’s what your mouth is doing to your teeth. They are too small for your mouth, so your mouth is going to give them to the tooth fairy,” Wade said, bringing up the fictional lady that took your teeth and brought you money. Link figured he was going to have to go break some cash into ones for under his daughter’s pillow soon.

* * *

Link liked laying his head on Wade’s chest. Not only could he feel the man’s heartbeat and reassure himself that Wade was still here with him, but it also gave him an excuse to get as close as physically possible to him. Link knew that Wade was still awake because of the soft movements of fingers through his hair.

“Link?” he heard Wade ask. Having not moved for a while, Link continued laying still, not playing dead or faking sleep, just not awake enough to form a response. He heard Wade huff a puff of air from his nose before whispering, “tonight at supper...I wanted to ask you to...marry me. But we can’t. As optimistic as you always are darling...I fear we may not get the chance.”


	22. Stonewall

**June 28 1969**

Link and Wade were sleeping peacefully in Links bed. Three hours away in Manhattan at the Stonewall Inn, police conducted a poorly conceived raid on the popular gay bar and club. People were being arrested left and right when violence broke out. It took two and a half hours for the spontaneous riot to be de-escalated.

Link came into the kitchen that morning more asleep than awake. It was a saturday morning and while Wade had to head into the studio to rehearse for the upcoming filming of the week’s Corny Collins Shows, it was still a calm, domestic morning. But, as he started looking around, he saw that Wade was not in the kitchen, yet he wasn’t in their bed either.

He heard the toilet flush. “That’s where Wade is,” Link thought and headed in that direction. Knocking on the door before entering, Link heard no response, so he pushed the door open. Wade was kneeling on the floor in front of the toilet.

“Wade!” Link exclaimed and rushed to his man’s side. Putting his arm across Wade’s shoulders, he knelt next to Wade and asked, “what’s wrong? Are you sick?”

Wade sniffled and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “Did you...see the newspaper?”

“No?” Link said, trying not to tense next to Wade.

“I’m fine now darling, go look at the newspaper,” Wade replied, cupping Links cheek and swiping his thumb over the smaller man’s cheek bone.

“I’ll wash up and come down soon, okay?”

“Yeah, alright.” It took all of Links strength not to sprint to the table, but when he made it there, he collapsed under the stress and adrenaline.

_4 POLICEMEN HURT IN ‘VILLAGE’ RAID_

____________________

_Melee Near Sheridan Square Follows Action in Bar_

____________________

_Hundreds of young men went on a rampage in Greenwich Village after 3 A.M. this morning after a force of plain-clothes men raided a bar that the police said was wellknown for its homosexual clientele. Thirteen persons were arrested and four policemen injured._

Link stared straight forward at the paper he still held in his hands. There was more on the page but his eyes blurred from tears and fear. His stomach twisted and contorted into all sorts of knots. He felt incapable of words as he dropped the paper onto the table. Tears fell from his eyes and he barely felt when Wade rested his arms on Links shoulders. Link was hiccuping, coughing and crying by the time that Wade stood him up and turned him around.

“Hey, I’m here,” Wade whispered into Links messed up black hair as he held the shaking man tighter. “I’m not going anywhere Link, I promise.”

* * *

Link went to the Corny Collins studio that day with Wade, not wanting to be too far away from his man. Maybelle and Seaweed gave him simple tasks to occupy his time while Maybelles youngest child, Inez, watched Julie. Link was never certain just how much about their relationship the Stubbs family understood, but he knew that they knew enough. Enough to know that letting Link organize costumes by color would be better that to send him home and tell him to rest.

* * *

By tuesday, the riots had happened almost every night following until they stopped. But Link hadn’t seen Wade since Sunday. With gay people being the forefront of the news, they had agreed that they should each sleep at their own apartments and eat alone for the time being. His bed was way too big for one person and Julie seemed to be missing Wade as well. So, instead of sleeping in her own bed, Julie had joined Link most nights. It was taking a toll on both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The news article I referenced was a real one. I found it on this site:   
> https://mass499.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/village-raid.jpg


	23. Ten Years

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly speaking...probably too much speaking. Oh well

**June 1969**

“This is the last season of the Corny Collins Show,” Wade announced that evening at the warehouse in which the show had been filmed since 1959. Link had joined Wade that evening to the final recording session of the tenth season of the show. He had no idea that Wade was going to quit.

“It’s been a solid ten years guys,” he said, turning to face Maybelle and Seaweed. “And you guys are some of the best dancers on this show,” he directed to the kids, mostly still in their dancing garb.

“I appreciate all the work that's gone towards this show and it has been amazing, but it's time to move on.”

* * *

“Wade, what was that?” Link said following the older man out of the warehouse, “You’re quitting the show? What will happen to it after you leave? You’re Corny Collins.”

“Seaweed is taking over, he’ll dance with those kids and it’ll be known by a different name.”

“How come you didn’t tell me?” Link asked. He didn’t feel betrayed, just mildly peeved that Wade didn’t inform him.

“Because you would try to talk me out of it,” Wade said before turning and facing Link. He cupped Links cheeks and looked down into his eyes, grey ones into bright blue. “Link, I did this to get me out of the public eye. There will be so much less scrutiny on me now and that way, I don’t have to hide for a week at a time, worried that the news will see us together. I did this to be with you. Do you understand?”

“Yah, I do,” Link agreed sheepishly. As Wade dropped his hands - they were in a parking lot where anyone could see them, Link reached up and wiped a tear off his eyes.

“Okay, so lets go pick Julie up from school and go home,” Wade said, grabbing Links shoulders and playfully pushing him in the direction of his car.

* * *

“Wade!” Julie shouted as she ran out the front doors of Patterson Park Elementary School, right next door to the high school of the same name. The high school Julie would go to, and the same one that Link had gone to and Link’s father had gone to.

Julie pulled open the back door to the light blue 1966 Oldsmobile and climbed inside. She was chattering about her day and the book her teacher read them and what she did at recess as they drove home. Link, in the passenger's seat, closed his eyes and imagined this perfect family they had and wished it would never end.


	24. My forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link gets a commission to write a sceenplay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skipping about a half a year from the last chapter.
> 
> We are also imagining that in the last six months, Link has written a novel and it has become rather popular

**January 1970**

Link had finally put his years editing and writing in the Baltimore Sun to use. And his university degree. He couldn’t forget about his degree. When his first novel was published, it was very popular and as suddenly as Wade fell from the public eye, he rose into it. It was the type of fame he despised just as much as he had when he was the lead dancer on the Corny Collins Show. But, it paid the bills and Julie was able to enter a ballet class.

It took six months after his book, “My Little Darling,” was published, but he did get a phone call. It was from Stanley Kubrick, a film director. Link had never heard of him, but Mr. Kubrick said that he had just finished filming a movie called Clockwork Orange and was looking into turning Link’s book into a film.

* * *

“Wade?!” Link shouted excitedly as his boyfriend entered his apartment with Julie that night. Wade had offered to pick Julie up from school and come over.

“Yup, its us,” Wade called back, unaware of Link’s new news. Link heard the thundering footsteps of his daughter running through the house and stood from his newly purchased typewriter to greet her.

“Did you have a good day at school Julie?” Link asked, scooping his six year old daughter into his arms. Her birthday had been just days ago.

“I had a fun day daddy!” Julie reported, squirming within his grasp.

“That's good lil darlin’,” he said, placing her back on the floor, “why don’t you go get changed and then come have a snack?” Julie ran off to her bedroom and Link turned to Wade.

“Guess what?” Link asked, barely containing the excitement of getting the opportunity to write a Hollywood screenplay.

“What? Did you light the houseplant on fire again while I was away?” Wade teased, crossing his arms and plastering a goofy grin on his face.

“No, that was one time!” Link protested, “Anyways, guess who phoned?”

“I don’t know, Maybelle? Does she want me back?”

“You wish, but no. His name is Stanley Kubrick and he’s from Hollywood,” Link reported, voice and excitement growing by the minute, “he wants to make a movie out of my book!”

“Link, that's amazing!” Wade almost yelled as well, rushing forward to hug and kiss Link. “I’m so proud of you sweetheart.”

Link could hear the thundering footsteps of a six year old pounding through their apartment, so he pulled away from Wade. And just in time too, because only seconds later, Julie skidded around the corner looking for a cookie.

* * *

“So, will you guys have to move to Hollywood or something?” Wade asked that night. Their skin was still sweaty and warm but the breeze from the open window had caused Wade to pull up the covers.

Still half on top of Wade, Link said, “no, I can write from here and sent the drafts by mail.”

“You asked him that?” Wade teased, but he sounded relieved.

“Yah I did. Now that you’ve got your new job and Julie’s making friends, I didn’t want to uproot us for one screenplay.”

“I don’t think you understand,” Link said, sliding partially off Wade so he could look him in the eye, “no job in the world means more to me than you or Julie. I know we can’t get married, not now, maybe never, but you are my forever.”

“Me too Link,” Wade said, “thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late, I had a rough month with my family and my mental state. BUT, I finally was able to write again, so here is a chapter!


	25. Cam Ferguson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its a year after the Stonewall Riots and Link gets a letter from an old friend

**June 1970**

Link wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he checked the mail that morning. Usually, it just bills, tax forms, or ad mail. When he found a plain brown letter sized envelope between a carpet cleaning ad and a electrical bill, Link was confused. He never got normal mail anymore. The envelope was addressed to him, not Wade or the occasional mail that showed up for the lady that used to own the apartment, so it must be important. Link put aside the other mail he was sorting and leaned against the kitchen counter. From his pocket, he pulled out his Swiss Army Knife, the one he had taken to carrying his pocket since about this time last year, and split the seal on the envelope.

_Dear Link, I don’t know of you’ll remember me, we have fallen out of contact since I moved away from Baltimore after I graduated. But its Cam Ferguson, we danced together on the Corny Collins Show in 1959, ‘60 and ‘61. I decided to write after all these years of radio silence because I was wondering if you are still in the community._

_You know what I mean._

_Anyways, I’ve been living in New York since I moved away back in ‘61, but I suppose you knew that. I still remember that night the summer after I graduated, the summer before you graduated when we went to that bar down on Kennedy Street. Did anything actually come of that night?_

_I am putting this offer out there because next week, a group of us that were involved in Stonewall last year, we’re holding a march on the 28th starting at noon. If you’d like to come down, you could stay with me and my roommate, we’d love to have you._

_I do own a landline number now, 315-240-3470. If you’re coming down, phone back ASAP._

_F_ _eel free to bring a plus one._

_~Cam Ferguson_

Link leaned more of his weight onto the counter. He hadn’t seen Cam in a little over eight years. But Cam was the man that brought him to one of Baltimore's gay bars when Link was only 17. And that night, he saw Corny Collins on the dance floor, all decked out in fishnet stockings and sequins, dancing like the rest of them. That was the night they realized that years worth of pining had been mutual. The night that started all this.

“Do you remember Cam Ferguson,” Link asked Wade that night after dinner. They sat on the couch, close enough to be comfortable, but not too close for Julie who was sitting at Links feet and watching the television, to notice.

“Yah I do,” Wade said. Link looked over at the older man and saw that his face remained emotionless. Link wondered just how much Wade remembered from when Cam danced as one of the council members on the Corny Collins Show. Him and Link were two years apart in age and the year after Cam graduated he came back from New York over summer. That was the first summer Link had been to a gay bar and the summer he saw Wade, on the dance floor, shaking his body like the rest of them. It also was the night that they both found out that three years of pining had been mutual.

“Hey Julie, did you brush your teeth?” Wade asked, suddenly turning into the soft lovable man Link knew was under his occasionally hard exterior.

“Not yet Wade,” Julie wined, rolling onto her back so she could look at Wade and consequently Link as well.

“I wanted to finish watching Crackerjack,” she complained.

“Why don’t you go do that lil darlin’, then go climb into bed. I’ll come read you a story, how does that sound?” Link reasoned and watched as Julie slowly rolled back onto her stomach before standing up and thankfully not stopping her feet all the way to her room.

“Cam,” Wade stated as soon as Julie walked out of hearing range.

“Yah, I got this letter in the mail from him when I checked the mail,” Link said, pulling the folded paper out of the breast pocket of his plaid shirt, “He was part of Stonewall last year.”

“Oh,” Wade said, taking the offered paper and reading it.

“He wants us to come down for a parade this year,” Link said, trying to hide his excitement. Since quitting the Corny Collins Show, Wade had become a lot more reserved. Not that Link minded. Discretion was good. It kept you out of jail. But still, he kind of missed the version of Wade that was so outgoing and not afraid to show his true colours. The Wade that danced and sung and wore sequins and fishnet stockings.

“I don’t know Link,” Wade said, “it’ll be risky. The last thing we would want would to be arrested. Then what would happen to Julie? The foster system? I promised you that I wouldn’t let that happen and that promise still stands.”

“I know, but this is our chance to really show everyone out there what we are made of, you know, not just hiding in the shadows and hoping people don’t find out. We have that choice, so why can’t we march for those that don’t?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I guess the ending is up to interpretation as to whether or not they actually attend the parade. You can be optimistic if you wish, or not, but I will say this...if, in your version, they go, nothing bad happens.
> 
> And Cam, well, to be honest, I created him for this chapter. BUT, he will play a huge part in the prequel I'm writing and will make up for his lack of involvement and mention in this story.
> 
> The TV show Julie was watching, Crackjack, was actually a real show. I'm not 100% clear of the premise, plot or anything, but it seemed like a good show for a 6 year old to be watching.
> 
> Lastly, the area code for Cam's phone number would be correct in 1970. The area code for New York and area changed in 1985 or something to its current one, but up to that point it was 315.


	26. Do It Nicely

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Julie's first day of high school

**September 1978**

“Dad, the school is so big,” Julie said and Link could feel her grasp on his hand growing tighter. They had walked past Patterson Park High School for years on her way to school when she was younger, but Link guessed that Julie never understood the size of the building until she had to find six different classes within it.

“Its okay lil darlin’, it just looks a lot bigger,” Link said and as soon as it came out of his mouth, he realized just how stupid his comment sounded, so he added, “and you’re bigger now, so you fit the school better.”

“But I won’t know anyone,” Julie complained and stopped walking. They were still a block from the school and Link wanted to get her to the front doors before the first bell went.

“I’m sure all your friends will be here,” Link said and was sure that it was a true statement. The elementary and junior high school drew from a much smaller area than the high school, so chances were, if Julie went to school with someone before, they would be here too.

“All the teachers will be mean,” Julie said grabbing her hand back from Link and shoving it into the pocket of her sweater, along with her other hand. She was a rather small kid in stature and had not yet grown too much. Julie looked like she could be a few grades lower. Link thought that maybe if she cut her hair six inches shorter, Julie could look at least her age. But that argument got him nowhere. At this point, if she maintained it, tied it up and brushed it, Link couldn’t ask for much more.

“I bet all the teachers are really nice,” Link argued, just trying to get her to walk the last block to school. She had to try. Link knew Julie was painfully shy, always had been. But after a falling out with her friend group at the end of the eighth grade, Julie was utterly alone. Sure she would know other people from junior high, but more as friendly faces, not friends.

“Can’t I go tomorrow?” Julie asked, her pigtails falling like a veil around her face.

“Hey,” Link said, taking a knee on the pavement and becoming a little shorter than her, “I want you to do this for me and Wade, yeah? You will have to go at some point, you can’t ever go back to junior high. Today, everyone is the new kid. Tomorrow, you could be the only new kid. Please give it a try Julie. Okay?”

“Fine dad,” Julie said, not looking up from the ground but also not looking any sadder. He figured it was a good compromise.

* * *

Link walked back down the street he and Julie had come from once he finally got her into the school. He could understand the hesitance, he really could. Julie was the child of two dancers. Both Link and Becky were small, so Link never had any expectations that Julie would be a “normal” sized kid, and he was right.

Link could remember the ninth grade. Not only was he entering Patterson Park High School for the first time, but he was also auditioning and consequently dancing on the Corny Collins Show for the first time. Plus he was small, skinny and always wore poorly fitting clothes. Not picked on by his classmates until later on in school, Link had very few problems in grade nine and ten. Then his classmates started dating. And Link couldn’t bring himself to date a girl.

Until he met Tracy Turnblad. He never liked a girl until he met her and one may have said he was “straight for her.” But he really wasn’t. It was more of a function of them both needing a date and fast. Link regretted every second of their dating. Regretted feeling like crap, regretted leading her on, everything. Except the friendship that left it. But then Tracy moved to Hollywood weeks after grad to sing and dance in movies. And she was doing really well. Link missed her dearly, but was glad to see her doing well.

* * *

“Wade,” Julie screeched, catapulting herself off the floor where she had sat since coming home from school and running to the door to greet the man. He was wearing a boring suit conducive of a sales supervisor but had accented it with a bright red tie. Not as flashy as some of his Corny Collins suits, but still with a splash of taste.

“Heya Julie,” Wade said, giving her a big hug and escorting her back towards the kitchen where Link was waiting.

“Julie, can you tidy up your dolls and put them back in your room nicely?” Link asked, turning from where he was cooking at the stove.

“Yes dad,” Julie said and slowly started cleaning up.

While stomping off to her room, Link added once again, “Nicely.”

Now that Julie was out of the kitchen, Link went up on his tiptoes, wrapped his arms around Wade and kissed him. Wade stumbled a little at the sudden onslaught and braced his hands on the counter behind Link, pinning the smaller man against it. As they continued re-familiarizing with each others mouths, Link felt a certain part of his anatomy taking notice to the close quarters and the fact that he was essentially trapped.

Wade pulled away first before laughing and saying, “I wish I could get a welcome home greeting like that every night.”

“Yeah, me too,” Link said, finding it hard to keep the sadness out of his voice.

“I meant I really enjoyed it. I’m sad its not able to happen everyday, but its not to be sad about,” Wade said, taking each of Link’s cheeks in a hand and kissing him on the lips one more time. The bigger man pulled away and turned to the cabinet above the stove and pulled out a glass. He filled it with water and took a big swig while Link laughed.

“Made you thirsty, did I?” Link asked.

“Nah,” Wade said with a wink before moving around the counter. And just in time too. Julie skidded around the corner seconds later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, in Canada (where I'm from) we start high school at grade 9. I don't know if its the same in the States or even back in the 70's what they did. Anyways, for the sake of this, high school starts in the ninth grade. It also works better for Link's back story on the Corny Collins Show. 
> 
> I was thinking of making this chapter more...explicit? But I didn't because it turns out this demisexual virgin has no idea how any of that works.


	27. Winter Formal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie goes to the Winter Formal school dance. She has some questions for Link when she gets home!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Has anyone noticed that all the Hairspray characters first and last names start with the same first letter?  
> Link Larkin  
> Corny Collins  
> Tracy Turnbald  
> Penny Pingleton  
> Seaweed Stubbs  
> Anyways, I guess, now knowing that, I should have named Wade something like Carson. I don't know, Wade just seemed to fit.

**December 1978**

Julie had ran up to her room just after they ate dinner to get ready. It was the night of the yearly Winter Formal dance at Patterson Park High School and when Julie said she intended to attend, Link was rather surprised. The start of the school year was rocky, to say the least. Not only had Julie a rough time to adjust to the heavier workload of negotiating high school and sports teams but she had yet to make any very good friends. But, apparently, this teammate from the cross country team, Ross, had asked her to the dance. Link feared she was perhaps too shy to turn down the offer, but Wade assured him that he was just being a worrywort.

But Julie looked beautiful. The dress was a pale blue and was one that Maybelle had lent to Julie for the occasion. Wade had commented that it looked “a little hippie” but Julie insisted that it was wonderful.

Link drove Julie to the school that night. Once they were about a block away from the school, Link stopped where Julie asked him. “Are you excited lil darlin’?” Link asked.

“Sure, I guess,” Julie said, shrugging in her seat but not looking super convinced.

“Well, just have fun then. You don’t have to hang out with this boy if you don’t want,” Link reasoned.

“Thanks dad,” Julie said, leaning over the center counsel and giving him a huge hug.

“I’ll see you later tonight lil darlin’,” Link said as he watched his daughter climb out of the car and start the walk towards the school. He watched until she entered the building before pulling away and driving back towards their apartment.

* * *

Link pulled open the door to the apartment and called, “I’m back honey!”

“I’m in your room,” Wade called and Link felt his pulse hitch up a couple notches. They very rarely got anytime alone now that Julie was older and way more observant than she used to be. Usually, she would go to bed, Link would set up Wade on the couch if he “stayed too late to drive home and might as well sleepover.” So far, it seemed to be fooling Julie. Not that Wade actually slept on the couch, but Julie didn’t know that.

Link toed off his shoes and called back, “what are you doing in there goofy?”

“Not sure, I think I got lost,” Wade called teasingly. Link slowly walked through the apartment, loosening various articles of his clothes as he progressed. When he turned the corner into his bedroom, he saw his man, nude, in the center of his bed.

“Wade!” Link said unbelievably. He stopped in his tracks and just stared at the man laid out before him.

“You look startled babe,” Wade said, pushing himself up onto his elbows, “Come here.”

* * *

Link was sleeping soundly in near Wade when he heard the soft patter of footsteps entering his room. He had picked up Julie from the school dance just hours before and had waited until he believed she was asleep before closing his book and settling in next to Wade. The older man had briefly moved back to the couch while Julie was getting settled, but had since migrated back into the warm nest that had been known as “their bed” for a little while now.

Sitting up before Julie went to the wrong side of the bed, Link saw Julie, in her nightgown with her cheeks streaked with dried tears.

“Dad?” She asked, “I can’t sleep.”

“Come-on lil darlin’,” Link said swinging his legs out of his bed. He carefully put the comforter over the shallow lump of Wade’s body to help hide the sleeping form of the other man in his bed.

In Julie’s room, Link tucked his not-so-little girl back into her bed, before sitting down on it and asking, “what has you so worked up lil darlin’?”

“Who is my mom?” Julie asked. A question that took Link by surprise and yet he had been expecting it for years. He had managed to artfully skirt the subject the past few times that Julie had brought it up. And yet, he figured that eventually, Julie would get to the age that she just wouldn’t take his lies anymore. It appeared that the time had come.

“Her name is Becky Brandon, and now she lives in New York City now, I believe. You know that show I used to dance on?”

“The Corny Collins Show, yeah?” Julie asked.

“Yup. And, you know how the birds and the bees work. Basically, I needed a date, she wanted something else from me. Nine months later, you were born, left in my custody and your mother moved to New York. I haven’t seen her since, nor do I really want to.”

“Oh,” Julie said, rolling onto her side, “ why have you never married anyone?”

“Never wanted to,” Link lied. He would give almost anything to be able to marry Wade.

“Will you ever?” Julie asked. Would he ever. Yeah, if he could.

“I’m not sure Julie. I just have to find the right person,” Link replied before asking, “do you want two parents?”

“Not really. I have you and Wade. You guys are pretty cool,” Julie said and Link huffed out a laugh.

“Why don’t you try to go back to sleep lil darlin’ and stop worrying,” Link suggested before standing and kissing his daughter on the head. “G’night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow has my life been a mess these past few months. I came out to my family and, boy oh boy did it go horribly. So I kinda just lost all motivation to do anything with my life. But I finally put this together. It took blood, sweat and tears (literally), but heres one more chapter.


	28. Just Say It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link comes out to Julie

**May 1980**

“Dad, I heading down to Maybelle’s,” Julie called that morning after breakfast. She came thundering down the hall and grabbed her shoulder bag from where it hung on one of the rarely used dining room chairs. Link stood near the kitchen counter, adding white-out to a recently finished screenplay.

“Be careful. Be back by supper though,” he called and listened to the apartment door close with a click. With Julie out at Maybelles, doing who knows what, and Wade at work, Link was able to get some good quality work done. But his mind kept wandering to what his little girl was doing. She was sixteen now, too old to be constantly watched out for, but Baltimore was just getting worse and worse. She was his daughter. Of course he worried.

* * *

“I’m home,” Julie called after lunch that day, and Link could hear the apartment door lock behind her. In just a tee-shirt and jeans, Link had migrated to his work desk, now typing away at the typewriter, adding a few new pages to the screenplay.

“How was Maybelle’s?” he asked, still with his nose in his typewriter, trying to finish his thought.

“Fine, I found a tape from the Corny Collins Show. June 1961. You looked so young,” Julie said. But her voice sounded like she was questioning it.

“That was my first season,” Link replied, trying to keep his voice neutral, unwavering. He was worried where this conversation was going. Had she seen them kiss? Had she seen Wade in his bed? Or did she find a picture from one of the photo booths at the fair?

“I really liked that song you, Amber and Corny did,” Julie said and Link felt like the conversation was out of control. How could he steer it back into control?

“Ladies Choice. I really enjoyed that number,” he muttered before standing and heading into the kitchen. And Julie followed. Link pulled open the fridge door and felt the wave of coolness hit his heated face. It did nothing to cure the coiling fear in his gut, but, hopefully his face was less red now. He reached in and grabbed the bottle of orange juice.

“I didn’t know that Wade was Corny Collins,” Julie said as the fridge door closed. Link almost dropped the bottle of orange juice on the floor. He felt like doubling over and losing his lunch in the garbage can. He turned away for Julie once again and took a glass down from the cupboard.

While pouring the orange juice replied, “He just wanted to be known as Wade to you, not Corny.”

“Who is Wade to you dad?” Julie asked and Link could feel his world implode. This could be the end. He would go to jail. Julie would hate him. He would never see Julie or Wade again.

“He’s my best friend,” Link lied. Well, Wade was his best friend, but he was trying to abort the conversation Julie seemed so desperate to have.

“No. I saw the way you danced together. Looked at each other. Still look at each other. He might be your friend, but who is he really?” Julie asked, her ice blue eyes staring into his identical ones. Staring him down. Link put the glass of juice down on the counter, untouched and braced himself.

“My friend,” he insisted.

“Don’t lie to me. You’ve lied to me my whole life,” Julie accused. It wasn’t quite a yell yet, but it sounded like it to Link’s ears.

“I can’t. I’ll go to jail,” Link whispered, all his walls collapsing. It was a wonder he didn’t pass out or collapse on the spot.

“So I won’t tell anyone.”

“Someone will find out.”

“Not for nineteen years they haven’t.”

“What are you asking me?” Link shouted. He pushed himself off the counter and glared at Julie, “Just bloody say it. Accuse me of loving someone. I dare you Julie.”

“Are you and Wade-,” Julie cut herself off. After it came out of her mouth, neither of them could never take it back. Until she said it, every piece of evidence his daughter had could be argued, denied even. But Julie needed to know the truth.

“Are you and Wade gay?”

“Yes,” Link said and felt the bile rising in his throat.

“Were you ever going to tell me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, if anyone had read Without Love, yes this is almost the exact conversation that Julie and Link have (the spoken words are all the same), I just changed the POV.
> 
> This one was a quick chapter, but I did it because I think that you guys deserve as many chapters as I can give after almost three months of radio silence


	29. News Report

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The news report that would change their lives

**January 1999**

Link was 54 when he saw on the television that the State Government of Maryland had voted for the decriminalization of homosexuality. He and Wade had been sitting on the couch in the apartment that Wade had basically moved into at this point. They were just sitting and listening to the news channel it cut to a new report. A news report that changed their lives for the better. Forever.

Link turned and buried his face in Wade’s soft sweatshirt and started crying. He would never go to jail. He could love Wade with all his heart and never be penalized for it. He could love the man that made his world turn.

“They did it,” Wade whispered into Links black hair, “it's finally happened.”

“I can’t…,” Link said, stopping his sentence to hiccup, “I can’t believe it.”

Link and Wade sat on their spot on the couch, just hugging. Relishing in the feeling of knowing they were safe. This hug felt so much different from any others they had shared. Because it was allowed. It didn’t have to be a secret affection anymore.

* * *

 

At a quarter to five, the doorbell of the apartment rang. Wade removed himself from where he had plastered himself to Link’s back to go answer it. It was likely Julie and her adopted son Cooper. It was Cooper’s birthday and he wanted to spend it with his grandpa and Uncle Wade. Who was Link to say no to such a cute kid.

Link peaked over his shoulder to catch Wade walking away in his pink Foo Fighters tee shirt. The shirt he had changed into after removing the one Link had soaked with tears earlier that day. At sixty, Wade’s formerly brown hair was entirely grey. He had added some padding to his waistline and cheeks, but otherwise had never changed. Link himself, while greying at the temples now, was surprised at the amount of jet black hair for a fifty four year old. But the stress of his relationship with Wade showed in the deep lines carved around his eyes and on his forehead. He thought he easily looked the same age as Wade while actually six years younger.

Wade undid the deadbolt on the door to the apartment and, sure enough, it was Julie and Cooper.

“Happy Birthday little man,” Wade greeted Cooper, giving him a fist bump.

“I’m not little anymore Wade,” Link heard Cooper said say, “I’m a whole seven years old now!”

“You’re so old. Should I call you old man?” Wade asked and Link smiled while he turned back to the chicken cooking on the stove.

“No,” Cooper replied and Link could hear those cute little giggles. Link heard the scrape of the bar stools and figured they had sat down.

“Hey dad,” Julie said, leaning into his arm.

“Can you believe it?” He asked, voice low. Low enough for Cooper not to hear.

“The decriminalization?” Julie questioned. When he nodded, she said, “I think it was a long time coming.”

“We were watching the news,” Link said quietly, “when the news anchor announced it. I just felt a weight lift off my chest. I don’t know who I am. I feel like hiding each other from the world was such a part of our identities for so long. It almost feels like I’m missing something. The shame of it all. Knowing in the back of my heart that I could go to jail.”

Suddenly the tears started flowing again. Silently, not moving, Link cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this is yet another revised version of what happened in Without Love.
> 
> So, I was thinking the other day. I was born after homosexuality was decriminalized (yes, I'm that young). I can't imagine a world where it was illegal to simply love someone. That love could be a jail-able offence. The fear all those people would be experiencing. I realized that there is truly no way that I can have any view on how these people would have felt. Yes, I have felt fear, but not like that. I truly have no frame of reference at all.


	30. I do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and Wade are finally able to say I do.

**January 2013**

“Friends, we have gathered here today to share with Link Larkin and Wade Collins an important moment in their lives. Their time together, they have seen their love and understanding of each other grow and blossom and now they have decided to live out the rest of their lives as one,” the minister at the front of the church said. It was 2013 and had been fifty two years since the two men fell in love on the set of the Corny Collins Show. Wade was leaning on a cane and had gelled his thinning hair back. Link stood on his own without assistance with Julie behind him as his best man.

“I, Wade Collins, take you Link Larkin to be my husband, my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our union and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together. I give you my hand, my heart, and my love, from this day forward for as long as we both shall live.”

“I, Link Larkin, take you, Wade Collins, to be my husband, my friend, my faithful partner and my love from this day forward. In the presence our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live.”

“Do you, Link Larkin, take Wade Collins to be your husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part?” the minister asked.

"I do,” Link said the words he never imagined he would ever be able to say to Wade.

“Do you, Wade Collins, take Link Larkin to be your husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do you part?” the minister asked one last time.

"I do,” Wade confirmed and Link saw a tear or two slip down the older man’s cheek.

“Then, by the power vested in me by the State of Maryland, I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may now kiss the groom.” When Wade took that one step towards her father and closed the space between their lips.

“I present to you the newly married couple, Wade and Link,” the minister said and as the two men turned to face the front of the church and the small crowd that had gathered, two men, one in his late sixties and the other six years older got ready to embrace the next chapter of their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I finally ended this. It took quite a while to actually finish, so if anyone has actually been following the story, I'm sorry this took so long.


End file.
